The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus ssp. Intermedia) is the largest animal that currently lives on Earth. The creature measures up to 98 feet in length, and it weighs up to 400,000 pounds. That makes the blue whale as heavy as roughly 33 elephants.
According to CNN, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Museum of Brazil discovered two new huge dinosaur species almost the size of blue whales. The two species are named Silutitan sinensis and Hamititan xinjiangensis. Both names have the Greek word “titan”, meaning “giant”.
The two dinosaur species were found in northwest China
The fossils were dated to the Cretaceous period. More precisely, roughly 120 to 130 million years ago. Both of the newfound species belong to the sauropod family, the dinosaurs with very long necks.
Vanguard News also presents details about the new findings:
The Silutitan is estimated to measure over 65.6 feet long. The Hamititan is a little smaller, as it measures 55.77 feet long. Blue whales have about the same sizes, as they range from 75 to 98 feet.
The researchers explained within their paper, as quoted by Daily Mail:
The discovery of Silutitan sinensis and Hamititan xinjiangensis increased the sauropod diversity of Asia, particularly from an area where these vertebrates are not common,
Hamititan xinjiangensis is one of the few titanosaurian sauropod recovered from Asia, which shows an unusual combination of sauropod features.
Sauropods represent a clade of saurischian dinosaurs. These creatures are known for very long necks, small heads, long tails, and thick and pillar-like legs. The group includes the largest animals to have ever walked the Earth’s surface.
The scientists published their new findings in Scientific Reports.